Nasdaq OMX to acquires Mergent index business

31 October 2012 | 1072 views | 0Source: Nasdaq OMX

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), parent of the world's first electronic stock market and a leading index provider, today announced it has agreed to acquire the index business of Mergent, Inc., including Indxis.

Mergent is an established index provider and a renowned supplier of business and financial data on global publically listed companies.

Mergent is the creator of the Dividend AchieversTM Indexes, the leading index family that tracks companies with strong long-term dividend growth. Mergent has been tracking companies with outstanding dividend records since 1979. Products based on the Dividend Achievers Indexes are offered by major investment management firms worldwide. Indxis is also an expert provider of index calculation services to a wide spectrum of clients in the financial services industry.

With this acquisition, NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes will become one of the largest providers of dividend-themed indexes based on benchmarked assets and will further enhance its custom index offering capabilities and services. Assets under management of exchange traded funds licensed by NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes are expected to increase 30% as a result of the acquisition.

"As the investment landscape continues to evolve, we see the increased need for indexes to provide rules-based and transparent benchmarks for dividend- and income-themed investments," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "NASDAQ OMX is continually motivated to provide the most robust index benchmarks for all asset categories and is excited to bring in the leading benchmarks of dividend indexes under the NASDAQ OMX index umbrella. NASDAQ OMX looks forward to continuing the Mergent's long-held tradition of developing indexes in the income space."

"This is a powerful combination of market leadership and innovation," said Mergent, Inc. CEO Jonathan Worrall. "Our industry-leading indexes and calculation business coupled with NASDAQ OMX's track record of developing innovative and transparent portfolios of indexes will deliver better benchmarks and tools for product sponsors, investors and other market participants."NASDAQ has determined the acquisition of the index business of Mergent, including Indxis, will be a non-material event.